The demand for student loans in higher education: A study of preferences and attitudes

This empirical study examined postsecondary-student attitudes and preferences regarding five discrete student loan plans and loan plan features. Certain demographic variables were examined for their relationship to student attitudes toward the various loan plans. The study addressed the following questions: What debt ceiling do students identify as acceptable? Are students willing to indebt themselves over an extended time span? What percent of annual income do they feel reasonably can be applied to loan repayment? Will students alter their repayment plan choices given additional and more detailed information about loan options? A random sample of 218 recipients of federal higher education loans during the 1973–74 academic year was drawn from the population of 6,765 undergraduate borrowers at the University Park Campus of the Pennsylvania State University.     

Changing the course: equity effects and institutional risk amid policy shift in higher education financing in Kenya

Reform in higher education financing in Kenya has been occasioned by both endogenous and exogenous variables. Internal pressures of a declining economy, rapid demographic growth and increased inter-and intra-sectoral competition for scare financial resources, couple with external neo-liberal doctrine championed by global donors like the World Bank have resulted in a new market-competitive policy of financing higher education. This paper analyzes the equity and risk effects of the new policy for the main stakeholders, namely students, academics and institutions themselves. The paper contends that the policy shift has had a significant effect on equity just as it has introduced universities to risks through engagement in academic capitalism with its emphasis on marketization of university programs and services. The paper concludes with suggestions on some policy options that could help to mitigate the negative consequences of this new policy.

The effect of blended learning on student performance at course-level in higher education: A meta-analysis

The present paper analyzes the impact of blended learning (BL) on the academic achievement of higher education students. A meta-analysis (k = 51 effect sizes) was conducted to perform a statistical synthesis of studies contrasting student performance in BL conditions with traditional classroom instruction. We include disciplines and instructors’ end-of-course evaluation method as moderating variables. The results show that BL demonstrates a small summary effect (g⁺ = 0.385, p < 0.001) compared to traditional teaching methods A significantly higher mean effect size was found in STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.496) compared to that of non-STEM disciplines (g⁺ = 0.210). Nevertheless, the weighted mean effect sizes reveal no significant differences regarding of end-of-course assessment methods, namely one-moment and multiple-component assessment. The finding confirms that BL is significantly associated with greater learning performance of STEM-disciplined students than with traditional classroom practice. Accordingly, discussion concerning the findings and implications for future research are elaborated.     

Understanding the higher education student in Europe: a comparative analysis

Higher education is of considerable importance to policymakers across Europe. Indeed, it is viewed as a key mechanism for achieving a range of economic, social and political goals. Nevertheless, despite this prominence within policy, we have no clear understanding of the extent to which conceptualisations of ‘the student’ are shared across the continent. To start to redress this gap, this article explores four key aspects of contemporary higher education students’ lives, considering the extent to which they can be considered as, variously, consumers, workers, family members and political actors. On the basis of this evidence, it argues that, despite assumptions on the part of European policymakers that there are now large commonalities in the experiences of students across Europe – evident in pronouncements about Erasmus mobility and the operations of the European Higher Education Area – significant differences exist both between and within individual nation-states.     

The Perpetual Education Fund: Providing higher education loans in the voluntary sector

Although many strategies are proposed to reduce the opportunity gap in higher education between and within countries, student loans with cost recovery measures are often preferred during times of fiscal constraint. This study briefly reviews the benefits and challenges of student loans over other forms of financial aid and presents the case for voluntary sector involvement in contexts where government and market failures constrain effective solutions. It describes an innovative program that has emerged to meet this challenge—the Perpetual Education Fund. This program utilizes public–private partnerships, a large financial corpus, pre-existing administrative structures, personal relationships, local vocational schooling, and intergroup solidarity to administer loans and recover costs. Because voluntary sector participation in loan financing and administration is relatively new, the experiences and innovative survival strategies of this program have valuable implications for other emerging programs.     

Democratising higher education in Ghana and Tanzania: Opportunity structures and social inequalities

This article is based on an ESRC/DFID funded research project on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/wideningparticipation). There are questions about whether widening participation in higher education is a force for democratisation or differentiation. While participation rates are increasing globally, there has been scant research or socio-cultural theorisation of how different structures of inequality intersect in the developing world. Questions also need to be posed about how higher education relates to policy discourses of poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. The article explores participation in higher education, utilising statistical data and life history interviews with students in two public and two private universities. It focuses on how gender and socio-economic status intersect and constrain or facilitate participation in higher education. Findings to date suggest that opportunity structures reflect social inequalities.     

Re-considering the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education

The aim of this article is to reconsider and explore the ontoepistemology of student engagement in higher education as part of a democratic education, going beyond neo-liberal groundings. This is urgent as the concept of student engagement seems to be taken for granted and used uncritically in higher education. In addition, higher education is affected by, and under pressure from, different global and societal forces, which raises questions about the purpose of education. In our exploration, we mainly draw on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and his co-writers Felix Guattari and Claire Parnet, but also Karen Barad and writers who are inspired by these theories. We present four arguments on which we elaborate: (1) Rethinking power relations, (2) Questioning linearity and how to use goals, (3) Appreciating pedagogical relationships as multiple voices and becoming-multiple-others, and (4) Considering assemblages, rhizomes and lines in student engagement. These arguments open up, as we argue, the possibility of rhizomatic thinking about learning in higher education where multiplicities, otherness and the unpredictable are appreciated. In addition, we regard the exploration of assemblages that are intercorporeal, affective and entangled as something powerful when reconsidering student engagement as part of democratic education.     

Money for nothing: Estimating the impact of student aid on participation in higher education

Understanding how higher education (HE) finance policy can affect HE decisions is important for understanding how governments can promote human capital accumulation. Yet there is a severe lack of evidence on the effectiveness of student aid in encouraging HE participation outside of the US, and none at all for the UK. This paper exploits a reform that took place in the UK in 2004, when maintenance grants were introduced for students from low income families, having been abolished since 1999. This reform occurred in isolation of any other policy changes, and did not affect students from relatively better off families, making them a potential control group. We use a difference-in-difference framework to estimate the effect of the reform on HE undergraduate participation. We find a positive impact of maintenance grants, with a £1000 increase in grants leading to a 3.95 percentage point increase in participation.     

Effects of key state policies on private colleges and universities: sustaining private-sector capacity in the face of the higher education access challenge

The relationship between key state policy variables — (1) relative (private–public) tuition prices, (2) state student-aid funding, and (3) public institution density — and the competitive position of private colleges and universities is examined. Elite private schools are found to be nearly impervious to state policy. Large and moderately selective private institutions are adversely affected by public institution density and low public prices. Such prices divert students who would otherwise prefer these private institutions to similar public schools. State student aid funding most affects the enrollment market shares of the small, low-selectivity private colleges enrolling the greatest proportions of minority and modest-income students. The findings suggest state policies in this era of strong demand for higher education and constrained public sector capacity should use price signals (student aid and public institution pricing) to encourage students to consider seriously whether private higher education might serve their needs as well as or better than public institutions.     

Tutoring in (online) higher education: Experimental evidence

Demand for personalized online tutoring in higher education is growing but there is little research on its effectiveness. We conducted an RCT offering remote peer tutoring in micro- and macroeconomics at a German university teaching online due to the Covid-pandemic. Treated students met in small groups, in alternating weeks with and without a more senior student tutor. The treatment improved study behavior and increased contact to other students. Tutored students achieved around 30% more credits and a one grade level better GPA across treated subjects. Our findings suggest that the program reduced outcome inequality. We find no impacts on mental health.     

The potential of student narratives to enhance quality in higher education

University policies are increasingly developed with reference to students’ learning experiences, with a focus on the concept of the ‘student voice’. Yet the ‘student voice’ is difficult to define and emphasis is often placed on numerical performance indicators. A diverse student population has wide-ranging educational experiences, which may not be easily captured within the broad categories provided by traditional survey tools, which can drown out the rich, varied and gradual processes of individual development. There is no single tool that can be used to measure students’ experiences. This paper draws on findings from four narrative inquiry studies, carried out in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, to illustrate how a narrative approach could be used to complement performance indicators. This provides a richer context for educators’ understanding of students’ experiences and for supporting and setting institutional agendas.     

The role of the student in the higher education production function

Increasing concern with productivity and efficiency in service industries such as higher education has created interest in cost analysis techniques, implicit in which must be some notion of the production function, that is, the technology by which inputs are combined to produce outputs. In order to clarify the existing confusion in higher education between inputs and outputs, and to offer aid in understanding the complex issues of productivity and efficiency, this paper offers a paradigm of the student as an economic entity analogous to the profit-maximizing firm in microeconomic theory. The paper concludes by suggesting an extension of the model to include the faculty member as an individual economic agent.     

Mini skirts and headscarves: undergraduate student perceptions of secularism in Turkish higher education

This article is based on a qualitative study that examines the perceptions of advanced undergraduate students in five Turkish state universities regarding their understanding of the concept of secularism and its manifestation within the higher education sector. The study further illuminates these students’ perspectives of how the university may change in relation to their understanding of secularism. This inquiry was guided by four central questions posed to the students: (1) what is your understanding of the concept of secularism?; (2) how does secularism manifest within universities in Turkey and your institution in particular?; (3) are there aspects of your university you would like to see change as a result of secularism?; and (4) in what ways has your identity influenced your academic decisions?     

The importance of institutional image to student satisfaction and loyalty within higher education

This paper outlines the findings of a study employing a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation methodology to test a customer satisfaction model of the drivers of student satisfaction and loyalty in higher education settings. Drawing upon a moderately large sample of students enrolled in four ‘types’ of Australian universities, the findings suggest that student loyalty is predicted by student satisfaction, which is in turn predicted by the perceived image of the host university. While the perceived quality of “humanware” (e.g., people and process) and “hardware” (e.g., infrastructure and tangible service elements) has an impact on perceived value, this was found to be weak and indeterminate. Of most importance was the impact of the institution’s institutional image, which strongly predicted perceived value, and to a lesser extent student satisfaction. The findings have implications for newer, less prestigious universities seeking to compete in a more deregulated, market driven environment.     

Religion as a barrier to the use of student loans for higher education: A community-based participatory study with Somalis living in England

The unwillingness of the Somali community to finance higher education has largely gone unnoticed within the academic literature and government policy documents. This study explores the role of religion and the influence of Shari'ah scholars on the use of interest-bearing student loans within the Somali community. In the absence of any theoretical framework on this topic, we explore the multiple socioeconomic factors that may influence the attitude, perception of need, motivation and action of using student loans for higher education, by proposing the UK Somali Muslims Acceptance of Interest-bearing Student Loan Model. This is also a community-based participatory study that actively involved Somali community members in exploring and interpreting the results. This was achieved through regular consultations with the sampled Somali Muslim communities within the UK. Our results contribute to the broader debate on the effect of cultural, religious and social values of marginalised communities on inclusion and widening access policies for higher education. The findings reemphasise that people sharing the same location do not necessarily share the same level of opportunities for higher education because of the intersectionality of race, religion, gender and class. The results also show the complexity of the issue of exclusion and the atheoretical nature of student loans as a financial instrument for improving financial inclusion and widening access to higher education among Somali residents in England.     

The role of trust in creating value and student loyalty in relational exchanges between higher education institutions and their students

The globalization of educational services and the increasing competition coming from the private sector have forced higher education institutions to market their programs more aggressively and to look at student loyalty as the key for future success. Student loyalty to higher education institutions represents not only a more stable financial basis for such institutions but also continuing support for them after graduation. The present research examines the relational exchange process between higher education institutions and their students. Specifically, it explores the process by which trust is first developed and then translated into students' perceived value of the higher education institutions, ultimately leading to the development of student loyalty toward those institutions. The identification of the components and the outcomes of student trust are presented on the basis of Sirdeshmukh, Singh, and Sabol's trust–value–loyalty framework.     

The role of private universities in the provision of higher education in Uganda: Growth and challenges

Abstract

Although the first private university in Uganda was founded in 1988 and the private university sector has since grown rapidly to become one of the most prominent features of higher education (HE) in Uganda, the contribution of private universities (PUs) to the provision of HE has remained largely unexplored and as such, less understood. The purpose of this paper, then, is to analyse the contribution of PUs to the provision of HE in Uganda, using theories of the non-profit organisations and Geiger's conceptual framework about rationales for growth of the PUs. The paper is based on data that were collected through qualitative interviews conducted in 2008 with six faculty deans from Uganda Christian University (UCU); reviews of paper and web-based documents from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the PUs in Uganda; and reviews of national and internal literature about private higher education (PHE). Data analysis reveals that excess demand for HE, per se, was not responsible for the growth of the PUs in Uganda; instead, it created opportunities for individuals and organisations to establish PUs. Because of their diverse backgrounds and the policy environment in which they exist, PUs undertake various roles in the provision of HE.     

我国商业银行学生贷款中的“惜贷”问题探讨——以美国联邦家庭教育贷款为参照

我国国家助学贷款供求失衡、贷方“惜贷”现象严重的原因在于利益激励手段单一且强度不足。要解决这一问题,应借鉴美国联邦政府运用担保、建立学生贷款二级市场和支付特别津贴等财政性激励手段,解决放贷资金风险性大、流动性差和获利困难等问题的经验,跳出只在“风险性”上寻找对策的思维定势,围绕贷方利率并结合担保等手段激励贷方放贷。中央政府应是激励贷方的主体。